Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 6.djvu/50

 38 FEDERAL EBPOBTER. �3. Objection is also taken upon the ground that the offence is charged to have been committed "against the statuts in such case made and provided," and that there is no proof of any statuts in the province of, Ontario punishing the crime of forgery, It seems to have been formerly the law that where an pffenee was punishable at common law only, and yet the indictment averred it to have been done against the form of the statute, it should be quashed. Later authorities, how- ever, hold that this is mere surplusage, if the oSence be in fact a common-law crime. 1 Bishop on Criminal Proceed- ings, § 349. Whether a party could be extradited for a forgery under a special act of the province of Ontario, which was not a forgery at common law, it is unnecessary liere to determine. I have no doubt, however, that where the oSence committed is a forgery at common law, the foreign government has a right to take proceeJings for extradition. It may be safely asBumed that there is a provincial statute punishing the com- mon-law crime of forgery. If, however, the party were shown not to be guilty of a common-law forgery, it would be incum- bent upon the prosecution to show a statute covering the offence. �4. The complaint is made upon information and belief, and in this respect I think it is fatally defeetive. The statute requires a complaint upon oath, and I think it is not satisfied by a simple allegation that the complainant is informed and believes the petitioner to have committed the offence, or, in the language of this complaint, that upon the "best knowl- edge, information, and belief" of complainant, defendant is guilty. A person may swear that he has reason to believe, and does believe, that a person has committed a crime, al- though his reasons may amount to little more than mere sus- picion, without laying himself open to a charge of perjury. This, however, is not a complaint upon oath, within the meaning of the statute. The personal liberty of a citizen ought not to be interfered with upon an allegation so loosely framed. It is very singular that there are so few cases in which the requirements of a proper complaint upon oath are ��� �